DC20+Badge+Contest

WHY HACK? Ah, a beautiful Saturday morning in April. The birds are chirping,the sun is shining, and we’re inside absorbing the glow of our computer screens because we love creating beautiful software. A no brainer, really. CONTACT 65HUNNIDEGREES@GMAIL.COM = = = = = = = = =Welcome= This page is about the DefCon 20 Badge [|Contest]. This page close to being complete but still being updated. Please add information you may have. Thanks.

Badge Puzzle

 * 1) Construction Information
 * 2) Badge Matrix
 * 3) Lanyard Puzzle
 * 4) Making Friends / Dump EEPROM puzzle
 * 5) Rotunda Puzzle
 * 6) Project NOVA
 * 7) White Hare
 * 8) Neck Puzzle
 * 9) Putting Clues Together
 * 10) Spring Heeled Jack
 * 11) Lacie
 * 12) Great Tom
 * 13) Sign Ciphers
 * 14) Penn & Teller
 * 15) Hardware Hacking Village and Lockpick Village
 * 16) Wireless Village
 * 17) Entryway Sign
 * 18) Program Cipher
 * 19) Nyctographic Notes
 * 20) Black Sodalitas
 * 21) End Game
 * 22) Uber Badge Puzzle
 * 23) Music Puzzle (New from Saucier)



Construction Information
The DC 20 Badges were produced by Parallax in the USA. Information on their production can be read about at the Parallax Forums. The badge includes an IR transceiver which allowed the badges to "mate" with one another. This was to foster communication between attendees while they were scanning their badges. Using Parallax software one could view what types of badges theirs had mated with, unlocking clues to continue the contest.



Badge Matrix

 * [[image:1o57/05front.jpg width="160" height="230" caption="Human 5 Front" link="file:05front.jpg"]][[image:1o57/05back.jpg width="160" height="210" caption="Human 5 Back" link="file:05back.jpg"]] || [[image:1o57/06front.JPG width="131" height="188" caption="Human 6 Front" link="file:06front.JPG"]] [[image:1o57/06back.JPG width="134" height="253" caption="Human 6 Back" link="file:06back.JPG"]] || [[image:1o57/07front.JPG width="145" height="218" caption="Human 7 Front" link="file:07front.JPG"]][[image:07back.JPG width="166" height="256" caption="Human 7 Back" link="file:07back.JPG"]] ||
 * [[image:1o57/08front.JPG width="161" height="245" caption="Human 8 Front" link="file:08front.JPG"]][[image:1o57/08back.JPG width="160" height="266" caption="Human 8 Back" link="file:08back.JPG"]] || [[image:09front.JPG width="128" height="226" caption="Human 9 Front" link="file:09front.JPG"]][[image:09back.JPG width="143" height="255" caption="Human 9 Back" link="file:09back.JPG"]] || [[image:10front.jpg width="160" height="267" caption="Human 10 Front" link="file:10front.jpg"]][[image:10back.jpg width="160" height="263" caption="Human 10 Back" link="file:10back.jpg"]] ||
 * [[image:11front.jpg width="160" height="299" caption="Human 11 Front" link="file:11front.jpg"]][[image:11back.jpg width="160" height="299" caption="Human 11 Back" link="file:11back.jpg"]] || [[image:20front.JPG width="153" height="277" caption="Human 20 Front" link="file:20front.JPG"]][[image:20back.JPG width="160" height="255" caption="Human 20 Back" link="file:20back.JPG"]] || [[image:28front.JPG width="197" height="289" caption="Human 28 Front" link="file:28front.JPG"]][[image:28back.JPG width="208" height="314" caption="Human 28 Back" link="file:28back.JPG"]] ||
 * [[image:32front.JPG width="174" height="255" caption="Human 32 Front" link="file:32front.JPG"]][[image:32back.JPG width="161" height="237" caption="Human 32 Back" link="file:32back.JPG"]] || [[image:36front.JPG width="157" height="257" caption="Human 36 Front" link="file:36front.JPG"]][[image:36back.JPG width="171" height="301" caption="Human 36 Back" link="file:36back.JPG"]] || [[image:40front.jpg width="160" height="252" caption="Human 40 Front" link="file:40front.jpg"]][[image:40back.jpg width="160" height="211" caption="Human 40 Back" link="file:40back.jpg"]] ||
 * [[image:44front.jpg width="160" height="269" caption="Human 44 Front" link="file:44front.jpg"]]missing 44 back ||  ||   ||



Lanyard Puzzle
The lanyard is a trinary (base 3) code, in which the lanyards must be overlaid and read vertically in order to be decoded. The order is decided by the Chinese number printed on the lanyard when they spell out 10-5-7, or Green, Orange, then Yellow.

Here's the green lanyard, for now...

For reasons to be filled in later, the dots correspond to these numbers: The lanyards spelled out: Vertical Trinary yields (2 tables for length reasons):
 * = [[image:1o57/lanyard0.jpg width="36" height="114"]] ||= [[image:1o57/lanyard1.jpg width="36" height="114"]] ||= [[image:1o57/lanyard2.jpg width="36" height="114"]] ||
 * = 0 ||= 1 ||= 2 ||
 * Green || 2001201110112010002022000100120200002010100001000100220021001012 ||
 * Orange || 0211111120010120200100212211112002121112101221121221001101011022 ||
 * Yellow || 1112202222220122100101110211112121220102111121011211201012110020 ||
 * Trinary || 201 || 021 || 011 || 112 || 212 || 010 || 112 || 112 || 122 || 002 || 102 || 112 || 200 || 011 || 122 || 002 || 021 || 000 || 200 || 011 || 200 || 201 || 021 || 011 || 020 || 122 || 011 || 011 || 111 || 211 || 022 || 201 ||
 * Decimal || 19 || 7 || 4 || 14 || 23 || 3 || 14 || 14 || 17 || 2 || 11 || 14 || 18 || 4 || 17 || 2 || 7 || 0 || 18 || 4 || 18 || 19 || 7 || 4 || 6 || 17 || 4 || 4 || 13 || 22 || 8 || 19 ||
 * A=0..Z=25 || T || H || E || O || X || D || O || O || R || C || L || O || S || E || R || C || H || A || S || E || S || T || H || E || G || R || E || E || N || W || I || T ||

Theoretically, with spaces: THE OX DOOR CLOSER CHASES THE GREEN WITCH FIVE MIN BEHIND HER HE USED TO BE MARY
 * Trinary || 002 || 021 || 012 || 022 || 210 || 011 || 110 || 022 || 111 || 001 || 011 || 021 || 022 || 111 || 010 || 021 || 011 || 122 || 021 || 011 || 202 || 200 || 011 || 010 || 201 || 112 || 001 || 011 || 110 || 000 || 122 || 220 ||
 * Decimal || 2 || 7 || 5 || 8 || 21 || 4 || 12 || 8 || 13 || 1 || 4 || 7 || 8 || 13 || 3 || 7 || 4 || 17 || 7 || 4 || 20 || 18 || 4 || 3 || 19 || 14 || 1 || 4 || 12 || 0 || 17 || 24 ||
 * A=0..Z=25 || C || H || F || I || V || E || M || I || N || B || E || H || I || N || D || H || E || R || H || E || U || S || E || D || T || O || B || E || M || A || R || Y ||

This information is supposed to lead you to Great Tom, a bell that used to be called Mary, who rings five minute behind GMT (which is Oxford time).



Making Friends / Dumping EEPROM
By mating your badge with all seven other types of badges, and/or dumping the EEPROM and looking for strings, you will be presented with code "10571089" which translates into this URL: @http://www.defcon.org/1057/10571089

You may also find this URL in the EEPROM or by getting flashed by LoST himself" @https://www.defcon.org/1057/LosTisFound/

(What do you mean by "flashed"? I synched with LosT and did not get this second string. Only the first one -- fx)



Rotunda Puzzle
The main rotunda had this image on the floor.

Around the outer edge was the following number sequence: 26 2 22 13 26 14 22 2 22 9 11 26 7 19 12 13 24 22 2 12 6 9 22 14 12 5 22 14 6 9 23 22 9 12 6 8 24 18 11 19 22 9 2 12 6 19 26 5 22 21 12 6 13 23 7 19 22 11 9 12 17 22 24 7

This turns out to be a reverse, or "Atbash" cipher. A=26, B=25, C=24 ... Z=1. When decoded the message says: AYE NAME YER PATH ONCE YOU REMOVE MURDEROUS CIPHER YOU HAVE FOUND THE PROJECT

This "AYE" is suggesting you look at the "eye's" on the rotunda floor. Here is a picture of those 4 eyes:

The four eyes have name. They are: Eye of Ra Mu (Chinese character meaning eye) Eye of Horus Eye of Providence

By using the clue "remove murderous cipher" and from hearing Lost tweet that the eyes are an anagram the puzzle presents itself with a way to solve this. Simply write all the names of the eyes out and remove "murderous cipher".

RAMUHORUSPROVIDENCE R **A** MUH **O** RUSPRO **V** IDE **N** CE

After removing "MURDEROUSCIPHER" what's left is simply the letters AOVN, or an anagram for: NOVA.



Project Nova (from Rotunda)
@http://defcon.org/1057/NOVA

This is a yellow page with an image of the Cheshire Cat. The page is titled 404, has morse code which translates to "404," and text saying "This is not the page you're looking for."

By viewing the source on the page, one finds at the bottom:

""

Either by dragging the picture of the cat, or by viewing the .gif file directly, hidden text is revealed around the image to spell out the words "WHITEHARE."



White Hare
@http://defcon.org/1057/WhiteHare

This has the same yellow as the previous page, but with this text:

//Isn't this fun?// //Still stuck?// //Have you found the answers to the loop, the floor and the signs?// //I can help you, but only a bit:// //O Lector! Cave ne illum capias, nam latro Jovi est odius. Ecce!// //Why us, eerie whore?//

Tho "O Lector" portion is latin. Translate from Latin to English you get: O Reader! Be careful not to take him for a thief to Jupiter is hatred. Behold !

The sentence "Why us, eerie whore?" could be an anagram that gets turned into: Where iw Horus eye?



Neck Puzzle
On the second floor circle, there is a rendering of a face (picture forthcoming). On the left side of the circle is the numbers "16-1-14-7-18-1-13" which when replacing those numbers with the alphabetic value the word becomes: "PANGRAM". PANGRAM means a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet. Lost tweeted something about "fox" "jumping" and the neck puzzle which gives the clue that the sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is the key to use on the floor puzzle. The floor puzzle on the face was very hard to read if not impossible. 1o57 put it up on a slide at the Badge talk Friday:

This puzzle is solved by overlaying a grid on the dots. "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog" is at the top.



By following the lines (starting with the black dots) you will begin to see words come out.

THE BROTHERHOOD IS EVERYWHERE. The white dots spell: CODEWORD: SPRINGHEELEDJACK The red dots (including the other colors their lines connect with) spell: USE CAUTION FOLLOW WHITE RABBIT



Spring Heeled Jack (from Neck puzzle)
@http://defcon.org/1057/SpringHeeledJack

This takes you to a page with the eye of horus a picture of Spring Heeled Jack and the following ciphertext: ekcaheesuoydoohrehtorbehtpotsrevenlluoyeicalelttildnamottaergdnuofuoyees

Simply reversing this text and adding spaces reveals: see you found great Tom and little Lacie Youll never stop the brotherhood you see hacke



Lacie (from signs)
@http://defcon.org/1057/Lacie

This takes you to a page with a picture of Alice Liddle, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, accompanied with this ciphertext: ehtssapnacuoyfimehtniojdluohsuoyebyamlliwsyawlayehtdnayrotsihtuoguorhtdetsixeevahsr

Reversing and adding spaces like before: rs have existed througout history and they always will maybe you should join them if you can pass the



Great Tom (from Lanyards)
@http://defcon.org/1057/GreatTom

This takes you to a page with a picture of "Great Tom," the hour bell at Tom Tower in Christ Church, Oxford, with this ciphertext: ydoboneesotelbaebotseyehcusdahihsiwylnoirafsuhtllewytterpgniodebotmeesuoytsetelttilri

Reversing and adding spaces as above reveals: ir little test you seem to be doing pretty well thus far i only wish i had such eyes to be able to see nobody

[|Forge of Empires Hack]

Concatenating the text from these three pages reveals: see you found great Tom and little Lacie Youll never stop the brotherhood you see hackers have existed througout history and they always will maybe you should join them if you can pass their little test you seem to be doing pretty well thus far i only wish i had such eyes to be able to see nobody

This text is the OTP key for the text on the DefCon entryway sign.



Penn and Teller
THHCR ICASK ORAVG WEDOT CMEHI ELSNR NSEJE NEAOS WMHHY NENYE EGEDI YULDA RNOEE EIFDY KRVNS TPNSS AHCIT BLTMN RSTTE EDESA GSTXA ITBAC OAEIX 1057x

Remove spaces and format into 23 columns:

THHCRICASKORAVGWEDOTCME HIELSNRNSEJENEAOSWMHHYN ENYEEGEDIYULDARNOEEEIFD YKRVNSTPNSSAHCITBLTMNRS TTEEDESAGSTXAITBACOAEIX

Read down and you get this message:

THEY THINK THEYRE CLEVER SENDING SECRETS AND PASSING KEYS SO JUST RELAX AND HAVE A CIGAR IT WONT BE SO BAD WELCOME TO THE MACHINE MY FRIENDS X

Notice the Pink Floyd reference, //Welcome to the Machine// is on their 1975 album //Wish You Were Here//.



Hardware Hacking Village and Lockpick Village
LCORR UITPR URHET LOHUE CGOYT HNEEN EOOUW IHHUO HOTSL OIFKC EFLBS UEOHA PONTI KLYOU LCBDO LWSSH NDLON TYARH UIIES OGAIU GIDNO AGTTE CUFRM SESOS TVHTH IHGOE SENEU THEHL TNOHR YUAOR BOEFE EHSOT

Remove spaces. Format it into columns that are 16 wide.

LCORRUITPRURHETL OHUECGOYTHNEENEO OUWIHHUOHOTSLOIF KCEFLBSUEOHAPONT IKLYOULCBDOLWSSH NDLONTYARHUIIESO GAIUGIDNOAGTTECU FRMSESOSTVHTHIHG OESENEUTHEHLTNOH RYUAORBOEFEEHSOT

Now read the columns downward. Starting on the leftmost side and you get this:

LOOKING FOR CHUCK DARE YOU WELL IM SURE IF YOU SEARCH LONG ENOUGH BUT I SERIOUSLY DOUBT YOU CAN STOP THE BROTHERHOOD HAVE FUN THOUGH HERES A LITTLE HELP WITH THE NOOSE EINSTEINS SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

(Does he mean "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted" ? -- fx)



Wireless Village (we think)
YEIMG OPITO ITPEE OWNHY TIEUU SIIBR UOGEO INISL CNDSO MNWLU MGMIA ATEEU ADHPI HLJNC UHRET YEYIM EAUGI GESKX BRINN LCSYE HSWHX

This cipher is read vertically from the top left: "You may be wondering why I'm helping you. I'm not. I'm helping Lacie. I'm just using you. Lacie is caught in the spider's web. Seek her out. XX"



Entryway Sign
At registration, there was a sign with a really long cipher on it. This cipher (line breaks added) is:

LVICGWWSUGHGMIIETQDOFVJWNKAEEHCKSJRMEPRPMEZDRCJKVRMPUNPHVHGMR SGNSRHWOPNIIAUGVGSLTTKIHSLSFCTUMTJPSGUVMFUHTYXRHPLAGFJWWZZGCS WCSGKACGLWCSZGALLQTQMTNCKVCGSDXHHZFWMBGLGTKWRMIWJIEFXRGSUMWHX HVPYGMHSYRXYNJTUSTSFRFKALZWMYRMLOPRBCGNVBZEJERHKLLINBTKHP

Using the text from the URL's... seeyoufoundgreatTomandlittleLacieYoullneverstopthebrotherhoodyouseehacke rshaveexistedthrougouthistoryandtheyalwayswillmaybeyoushouldjointhemifyoucanpassthe irlittletestyouseemtobedoingprettywellthusfarionlywishihadsucheyestobeabletoseenobody

Decodes as a OTP to this message: TREESCREATEAVEILACROSSYOURPATHACOLDSTEELRAILYOURONLYGUIDEASYOUSTANDPONDERINGACOOLBREEZEBRINGSACHANGEOFHEARTTHEPAINNOLONGERSEEMSTOMATTERTHEHELLOFTAKINGALEADROLEINACAGEYOUCREATEDFORYOURSELFNOLONGERTROUBLESGHOSTSOFYOURMINDYOUHAVEITNOWTHEANSWER

Formatted nicely: Trees create a veil across your path A cold steel rail your only guide As you stand pondering a cool breeze Brings a change of heart The Pain no longer seems to matter The hell of taking a lead role in a cage you created for yourself No longer troubles ghosts of your mind You have it now the answer



Program Cipher
On page 4 on the program, there is a picture of 1o57 holding cards and an Uber badge, accompanied by this cipher:

JSELMXSHBWAZHNWPUM MWXAGDOHWPEEDHIEY MMQAMMCKGMEFIIGOG NUKPVGSWTBCRHMLAO IMAFCPFLXWCBEDZCD HNZEEWRHIWT FQAEPEPLZT LEKDRTTJPA BMYOSPEYSB TNOLAIIXOIW RUMILERPLWS QYPVJWYMWL <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">TXGCCMOUSB <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">LJCFWPEXGB <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">UCAEJYEF <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">ROMWHLESR <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">BUCLKNTGBH <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">TFWIOMICAGPIJ || From the deciphered text on the entryway sign, we are to follow the instructions from "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd.
 * [[image:1o57/ProgramCryptext.jpg]] ||> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">OWWDWUMFUPQBHPSDAAE <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">MNVZAWZCFYRCDGVWCV

From the sign: Trees create a veil across your path A cold steel rail your only guide As you stand pondering a cool breeze Brings a change of heart The Pain no longer seems to matter The hell of taking a lead role in a cage you created for yourself no longer troubles ghosts of your mind you have it now the answer

Lyrics: So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell Blue skies from pain Can you tell a green field From a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? Did they get you to trade Your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange A walk on part in a war For a lead role in a cage?

Word Exchange: veil => smile cold steel rail => green field ghosts => your heroes trees => hot ashes a cool breeze => hot air change => cold comfort lead role in a cage => walk on part in the war pain => blue skies hell => heaven

This creates: hot ashes create a smile across your path A green field your only guide As you stand pondering hot air Brings a cold comfort of heart The blue skies no longer seems to matter The heaven of taking a walk on part in the war you created for yourself no longer troubles your heroes of your mind you have it now the answer

OTP translation: HIDDEN IN SYMBOLS LOST IN TIME HERE AND NOW WE FORGE THE DIGITAL ROSETTA OF A NEW ERA SURVIVING FOR GENERATIONS WE SEEK ONLY THE WORTHY YOUR TEST ALMOST AT AN END WE ARE ALWAYS SPEAKING FEW ARE LISTENING YOU HAVE HEARD OUR CALL DONT BELIEVE HISTORY BOOKS SOLVE A FINAL TASK AND JOIN US KEYWORD NYCTOGRAPHIC NOTES



Nycrographic Notes
@http://defcon.org/1057/nyctographicnotes

Visiting this web page brings you to a message stating that you are close to being worthy of joining our ranks, informing you to send an email to brotherhoodofhorus@g, meaning at gmail.com.

Sending an email results in an autoresponse from TheEye@brotherhoodofhor.us with a message stating "Password: BlackSodalitas"



Black Sodalitas
@http://defcon.org/1057/BlackSodalitas

This is the final URL code word, bringing the end game.



End Game
The final page has two parts, first clue:

Only one human legion speaks a true word Although he blends in with the rest True to the rules

"Legion" here is a reference to the "Roman Legion" and is pointing to the fact that the text on the back of the human badges corresponds to Roman Numerals, although every one is invalid except for "MIX." This is the first answer.

The second clue is:

Alice: "Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen- and four times seven is-- oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!" Based on Adams Answer (you know, hitchiker's radix) Alice knew she couldnt get to defcon XX! Four times thirteen gave what instead Knowing of course Alice fills with numbers first Lowers second then uppers Hint hitchers ultimate answer is ten to Alice here

This text is straight from Alice in Wonderland. Alice is doing multiplication in increasing bases, or "radix." 4 x 5 = 12 in base 18 4 x 6 = 13 in base 21 4 x 7 = 14 in base 24 4 x 8 = 15 in base 27 4 x 9 = 16 in base 30 4 x 10 = 17 in base 33 4 x 11 = 18 in base 36 4 x 12 = 19 in base 39 4 x 13 = 1A in base 42

Hence, Alice will never get to Defcon 20.

From the Black Sodalitas page:

Take the answer to one in radix 10, tack on the end the answer to two in the Adam's Radix, and use that as your final code word.

The answer to part one is "MIX" and the answer to part two is "1a" (lowers second then uppers indicating lowercase "a"). MIX = 1009 in base 10, hence the final codeword is "10091a" to be submitted with a badge hack to win the ultimate prize and complete the badge contest.

@http://defcon.org/1057/10091a



Uber Badge Puzzle
On the back of the black badge is a new cipher: SAMSPMQJ LTYVRXHB KYRDSZJY HBGSNQHQ BWLVJVPM FUISDCGW XATLEOBU LNIHPCSP TFPWIISX WTAMTXSV HTFLHWVV NWPPWYIP LDQFIJWT YCILZGTX MUDAFPCU KPNTOXJS NVSTMLUX || At the time of this writing there is no solution for this puzzle. It is thought that the pattern that flashes on the human badge once becoming "infected" by an Uber contains the solution. This is being tested.
 * [[image:uber-back.jpg width="320" height="425"]] || QMMDYPSQ

 Music Puzzle. On the audio CD there is a set of static at track 14, you can make out some kind of pattern. The track is 18 seconds long but the audio only plays for 15 seconds. Track is located here: [] Spectrogram analysis reveals the URL www.blessrecords.com/DefconTwnty but the website is displaying "Error 404: NOT FOUND! This domain name has just been registered." as of 8/10/2012

blessrecords.com appears to have been the website for Austin, TX musician Bil Bless and his band Son of the Electric Ghost so this may have simply been a music submission promoting the artist's website